Member Avatar for Bio-shippo

What is the best kind of computer to play it on? mine is an old compaq presario... the L337 has drained from it. it cant even play AVP Gold... :'( *sob*

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jermaghs07

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Good thread — ’s new-computer excitement and ’s reminder to match the game to the machine are on point. Portal runs on Valve’s Source engine and the official Steam page has the up-to-date system requirements for reference: Portal on Steam.

Practical steps to improve playability without buying new hardware:

  • Update the graphics driver from the GPU vendor before trying other changes; drivers often fix performance and crash issues.
  • Reduce OS and desktop effects to cut background GPU/CPU use (turn off visual themes/Aero and set the power plan to high performance).
  • Stop heavyweight background apps and scheduled scans while gaming; use msconfig to disable nonessential startup items for a test session.
  • Lower in-game video options first (resolution, shadows, texture detail, anti-aliasing) — these usually give the biggest FPS gains.

Source-engine specifics and quick tweaks:

  • CPU single-thread speed and GPU fillrate influence Portal’s smoothness more than raw core count. For small gains, use Steam launch options like -novid -high and verify game files through Steam if crashes occur. Also ensure DirectX runtimes and .NET libraries required by the game are present.

Troubleshooting and next steps:

  • If problems persist, gather a DxDiag report, the exact GPU model and driver version, Windows build, and the in-game settings. Those details make targeted fixes faster. Before making system changes (drivers, registry tweaks, OS reinstall), create a restore point and back up important files. Long term, more system memory or a modest dedicated GPU will offer the clearest improvement.

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Member Avatar for jermaghs07

as long as you meet the minimum system requirements then you should be fine. but there is a reason why games have system requirements. i can run it on a 1.3ghz dual core and 1g of ram.

Member Avatar for Bio-shippo

...Realy! Sweet! Just got a new com, Still a compaq but now it's shiny and has... Vista...(Dramatic music here!)

Member Avatar for jermaghs07

BOOO!!! if you want performance get rid of Vista. what are the specs on your new machine? I.E. ram, CPU, Hard drive, video card?

Member Avatar for Bio-shippo

its a HPC
CompaqSR5413WM
Amd Athlon Processor LE-1640 2.70 GHz
2 GB RAM
and of course a Vista OS

Member Avatar for jermaghs07

If you notice alot of the newer games will give minimum system requirements for XP then for Vista. there is a reason for that. XP uses way less resources than Vista. with that computer vista is using about half of your ram just to run the os. if you want to game with a lower end machine you need to get XP.

Member Avatar for jermaghs07

by the way i have a custom machine with a 1.6ghz dual core 2G of ram and a BFG 7950 that will run portal perfectly on High resolution. but i am running XP. i like vista don't get me wrong but for a smaller machine it isn't the best idea. if you want to run vista you can always upgrade ram to 4G DDR2 is cheap and you can get a 2G kit for about $30

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